During the 1400s, Florence was the most important, most exciting city in all the world. It was one of five city-states in what is now Italy. Being a city-state meant Florence had its own government. It was called the Signoria. But for many years the city was really ruled by one very rich, very powerful family called the Medici.
The Medici men were art lovers. They built beautiful homes and churches and libraries in Florence. They wanted works of art to go inside all those buildings. Andrea del Verrocchio was one of the most famous artists working in Florence at the time. He had plenty of jobs. Leonardo was very lucky to study under such a master.
Leonardo was an apprentice. He was twelve at the time he went to Verrocchio’s studio. All apprentices were boys. No girls were allowed. The apprentices were not paid. But they were given free room and food and a little money. At the studio they learned to become artists. For the first year, they had classes in drawing. After about seven or eight years they knew how to paint pictures, create frescoes (paintings done directly onto walls), make statues out of marble or bronze, design pottery, silverware, objects of gold, and even design buildings.
Apprentices started at the bottom and worked their way up. They swept the studio, ran errands for the older artists, and cleaned up at the end of the day. There were no art supplies stores. So Leonardo and the other apprentices learned to make paintbrushes and paints. For the brushes, hairs from different animals were stuck into wooden handles. Hog bristles, for instance, made good, hard brushes. Squirrel fur was used for softer brushes. The artists painted with a kind of paint called tempera. Its base was egg, not oil. (Painting with oil paints first started in the Netherlands; in Italy, artists did not start using oil paint until the 1470s.) Leonardo was taught to make colors. Blue came from grinding a stone called lapis lazuli into dust. Red came from crushing tiny beetles. Yellow came from the juice of one kind of berry.
At that time, canvas was not used for paintings. An artist painted on a flat panel of wood instead. But the wood had to be prepared first. Boiling kept it from splitting or cracking later on. Then glue was brushed on. After that, a coat of fine plaster called gesso was put on. This gave the panel a nice, smooth surface for painting. All these steps were jobs for the apprentices.
Verrocchio’s studio was always busy.
At any one time the master and his assistants would be working on many different projects. Whatever Verrocchio’s customers ordered, they’d make. As head of the studio, Verrocchio ran the business and drew up the contracts. The contract said exactly what the job was to be (for example, a statue of a soldier on horseback), how long it would take to finish it, how much it would cost, and what materials would be used. (Marble was more expensive than wood. Using wafer-thin pieces of gold called “gold leaf” on a painting added to its cost.) And only Verrocchio, the master, signed the works of art.
Right away Verrocchio saw that young Leonardo had special talent. He was a natural. So soon after he learned the basics of the trade, Leonardo was allowed to do more important work.
Customers—or patrons, as they were called—often gave religious paintings to one of the important churches in Florence. A painting might be of Mary and the baby Jesus in the manger with Joseph and the Wise Men and shepherds. Sometimes the patron would have his wife and himself put into the picture, too. They might appear at the sides, kneeling and praying. They were almost always smaller in size than the saints.
On Sundays, when people came to church, they saw the beautiful painting of Mary and her baby and the patron who had paid for it. It was a lovely gift to the church. It also showed how rich and important the patrons were.
Verrocchio received a commission to do a painting of the baptism of Jesus. In it, Jesus is standing in a rocky stream. Saint John pours water over his head. At the left in the painting are two angels. Verrocchio himself painted almost everything except one of the angels. The angel is staring at Jesus in a way that shows he understands the importance of what he is watching. His face is sweet and wise. Leonardo painted the angel, and he is so full of life that everything else in the painting looks stiff. Verrocchio realized Leonardo was a genius. He had talent like no one he had ever seen before. Verrocchio understood that even he himself was not as good as his young apprentice. The story is that after he saw Leonardo’s angel, Verrocchio never took up a paintbrush again. He went on to do more statues and items of gold. But he never did another painting. |